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Transportation

Americans have always been a people on the move—on rails, roads, and waterways (for travel through the air, visit the National Air and Space Museum). In the transportation collections, railroad objects range from tools, tracks, and many train models to the massive 1401, a 280-ton locomotive built in 1926. Road vehicles include coaches, buggies, wagons, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, and automobiles—from the days before the Model T to modern race cars. The accessories of travel are part of the collections, too, from streetlights, gas pumps, and traffic signals to goggles and overcoats.

In the maritime collections, more than 7,000 design plans and scores of ship models show the evolution of sailing ships and other vessels. Other items range from scrimshaw, photographs, and marine paintings to life jackets from the Titanic.

The original of this 1883 chromolithograph titled Under the Palisades was painted by Frederic S. Cozzens. It shows two large iron-hulled yachts at anchor beside the Palisades along the Hudson River, and a smaller boat sailing in the foreground. The smaller of the two yachts is the iron screw steamer Stranger. Built in 1881 by William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia, at the time the yacht was the pinnacle of yacht construction. Stranger measured 185 feet long, 23 feet wide, 9 feet 3½ inches deep and weighed 247 tons. Averaging 15 knots, its owner George Osgood of New York astounded his friends by breakfasting in Newport, RI, then sailing to New York City in time for dinner. The yacht was sold to E. S. Jaffrey by 1886, and again sold to George S. Scott. It was then purchased in 1890 by H.C. Hoagland of New York, NY for $75,000. In 1893 it was sold to George Lewis, Jr. and his wife Mary. The larger yacht is Atlanta. Built in 1883 at a cost of $250,000, also by William Cramp and Sons, this 248 foot long, 508-ton yacht was capable of speeds exceeding 20 knots with its 1,400 hp engines. It was owned by Jay Gould, a leading American railroad developer and speculator. Vastly exceeding the splendor of Stranger, Atlanta was fitted with magnificent hardwood saloons and staterooms. Underneath the hardwood floors in the staterooms were fitted porcelain bathtubs that could be filled with either heated fresh or salt water. They were accessible by means of removable floor panels, which saved the room's occupant from the inconvenience of leaving his room if he desired a bath. In a 95-mile race from Larchmont to New London, Atlanta finished 11 minutes ahead of Stranger. In 1894 the yacht was bought by George Gould for $100,000. In the foreground, the small iron screw steamer Rover sails by.

It was built in 1883 by the American Ship Company of Philadelphia, owned by Commander Henry Honychurch Gorringe, a Civil War hero who had several years before brought Cleopatra's Needle, an ancient Egyptian stone monument, to New York. Frederic S. Cozzens (1846-1928) was an American marine painter famous for his large portfolio of yacht racing lithographs. He lived in Staten Island and exhibited with the Boston Art Club, the Mystic Seaport Association, and the Brooklyn Art Association.

Owen Potter was built by Jonathan Fell, in Workington, county of Cumberland (now Cumbria) in 1850. The ship was purchased by Potter Brothers & Co. It measured 148.8 feet and 780 tons. The Owen Potter was built for trade in the Far East and frequently traveled to Calcutta. The ship went missing in 1857.

The painting is a portside and rear ¾ view of the ship. The ship's location in the painting is the North West Lightship, Liverpool Bay. In the central port profile the pilot jack is in the process of being hoisted to the fore masthead. The houseflag is depicted as a black horse on white ground, which confirms the ship owners as Potter Brothers & Co. Joseph Heard was born in 1799 in Whitehaven, Cumberland. Following a brief stay in London, Heard moved to Liverpool sometime after the mid 1820's. He shared a studio with his brother who painted portraits. Heard became extremely popular second only to Samuel Walters. Joseph died in 1859.

The Battle of Manila Bay took place on May 1, 1898. The battle was fought between the American Pacific Squadron and the Spanish Pacific Squadron, near the Philippines during the Spanish-American War. The American fleet was commanded by Commodore George Dewey, the Spanish by Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón. The flagships of the battle were USS Olympia for the Americans and Reina Cristina for the Spanish. Seven American ships fought against nine Spanish ships though several small gunboats, equipped with weapons from land defenses, also took part in the battle. USS Olympia was built by Union Iron Works in San Francisco, California; it was launched in 1892 and was first commissioned under the command of John J. Reed. USS Olympia measured 344 feet long and 5,586 tons. Reina Cristina was built in Ferrol, Spain; when the ship was launched in 1887 it measured 278 feet long and 3,042 tons. The Battle of Manila Bay led to a major American victory; all the Spanish ships in the squadron were either destroyed, like Reina Cristina, or surrendered.

Designed by Joshua Humphreys, Constitution was built in Boston in 1797. It measured 174 feet 10 inches in length, 43 feet 6 inches in beam, 14 feet 3 inches in depth of hold, and 1,576 tons. It was also known as Old Ironsides. The Constitution is still in commission at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, making it the oldest ship in the United States Navy.

Java was originally a French frigate named Renommée. It measured 1,073 tons. The British ships Astrae, Phoebe, Galatea, and Racehorse, under the command of Captain Charles Schomberg, captured Java near Madagascar in May 1811.

The painting by Thomas Whitcombe shows the two ships engaged in combat on December 29, 1812 off the coast of Brazil. Several sailors can be seen clinging to wreckage floating to the right of the battle scene. The two-hour battle was a victory for the United States and did much to increase the prestige of the country. The American Captain William Bainbridge was badly wounded and the British Captain Henry Lambert was mortally wounded. Thomas Whitcombe (1752-1824) was a British marine painter. After the battle, Java was deemed unfit for repair and burned.

The obverse of this small sperm whale tooth has a shallow engraving of a young noblewoman directly gazing at the viewer. Her fashionable outfit and hairdo are accessorized by an intricate necklace, a brooch at the décolletage of her gown and what appears to be some sort of medal or order (Bath?) on her left breast. Her headband contains crenellated towers and her shoulders are covered with an elegant ermine shawl. On the reverse, a youth in a sailor outfit with a kite in his hand is gesturing to go outside to another youth seated on a bench inside a house. The seated youth has his hand up in a negative gesture. Unfortunately, the story that the artist of this tooth intended to tell is lost in time.

Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.

In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.

Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or they could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.

This painting was part of the Duck Suite, the first-class luxury accommodations that included three upper-deck cabins aboard the ocean liner SS United States. The mural, which was designed by Constance Smith, decorated a wall of the suite’s sitting room. The scene of water birds is rendered in paint and gold leaf on aluminum panels and is the inspiration for the Duck Suite’s name. Renowned as the most luxurious of the 14 first-class suites on the ship, these rooms were typically chosen by the United States’ most well-to-do passengers, from movie stars to British royalty. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, regular passengers on the rival ship Queen Mary, switched their loyalties to the United States during the mid-1950s and booked the Duck Suite, which was their favorite lodging at sea for a time.

Like everything on this flagship of the United States Line, the mural had to be crafted out of flame-resistant metal. The ship was filled with aluminum, selected by the ship’s architect, William Francis Gibbs, who designed the vessel to be as fireproof as possible. And though the massive amounts of aluminum did make the United States one of the safest ships ever launched, the metallic, modern décor also gave it a special feel unlike any other ocean liner. Most liners were decorated with opulent wood carvings and even had working fireplaces to make passengers feel as if they were sitting in their own living room or library. However, Gibbs put aside this notion of Victorian comfort with his new interior decorating style. The United States was the epitome of 1950s and 60s design: sleek, modern, and practical.

The wooden screw sloop of war USS Alaska was built in 1868 and spent much of her career in the southern Pacific and Far East representing the American nation in foreign ports. In June 1878, she cleared New York for San Francisco and stopped at several South American ports on the way.

One of Alaska's port calls from 20-29 September 1878 was to Talcahuano, in the center of Chile's coast and that nation's main naval port. It also was one the principal stops for American whalers in the Pacific seeking fresh supplies and entertainment. This massive sperm whale's tooth was probably purchased there and engraved by one of Alaska's crew to commemorate his visit. While the carver of this tooth is unknown, it may have been one of the officers who kept the official ship's logbooks, because the calligraphy on the covers of the logs for this voyage is exceptionally elaborate and colorful.

As this tooth indicates, the Talcahuano visit and liberty calls were memorable. Sent ashore on liberty, 54 of Alaska's crew went AWOL (Absent WithOut Leave), and three more were confined to double irons (feet and hand cuffs) for drunk and boisterous behavior or fighting.

Some purists say that powder horns cannot be scrimshaw in the strictest definition of the term as whaling ivory, but this little piece blurs the distinction on account of its nautical imagery.

On the outer surface a brig is engraved, with a small gaff-rigged cutter running before it. The cutter has an unusual, old-fashioned heeltapper hull, with a raised quarterdeck and a low waist. Each vessel has a human-headed sea serpent in the water next to it. Above the brig on the right is a winged horse with feathers or scales on its lower body; its tail and tongue end in arrow points. Above and behind the brig on the left is a crowned two-headed winged creature with a body shaped like a plump manatee; its tail ends in a ragged line. Across from its crown the piece is dated “MAY•12•1808”. A floral vine completes the remarkable freehand carving. A painted wooden base is tacked to the wide end as a bottom; any cap that may have topped the 3-3/4-in. high piece is missing.

The backs of two large, matched sperm whale teeth were sawn off, and the front sides were scrimshawed freehand and mounted in an unusual glass-top wooden display case. The tooth on the left displays the stern of a large sailing ship flying an American flag, sailing away from the viewer. At the top are the numbers “18”, matched by the numbers “65” in the same place on the right side tooth. The bow of a large ship engraved on the right tooth is sailing toward the viewer, and it is almost certainly a different view of the same ship on the other tooth. Above and below the main image of the ship on the sea are matching rope and floral motifs.

The sailing ship depicted is a merchant vessel, as shown by the absence of a warship’s guns or the try works characteristic of a whaler. It appears to be a packet ship designed to carry mail, passengers and cargo together, judging from the number of lifeboats over the side on davits.

Below the teeth is a small bone plaque engraved in cursive “Dr. Charles E. Smith”. There was a Dr. Charles E. Smith in Whitesboro, NY during the Civil War, but the 1865 connection between Dr. Smith and a ship or a piece of framed scrimshaw artwork is unknown. The village of Whitesboro is near the precise middle of the state of New York, about the same distance from Long Island Sound and the Great Lakes. The nearest body of water was the Erie Canal passing through the village.

Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.

In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.

Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or they could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.

Made of whalebone and copper, this candle lantern was designed to hold a single candle, the stub of which is still visible in the turned socket on the base. The base is pierced with four square holes to introduce a draft; the glass sides prevented the outside air from blowing out the candle. Each of the bone corner posts has shallow, faint wavy lines engraved into its sides, and the top is made of four curved and pierced sections of bone covered and pinned together by narrow strips of copper, like the ridge of a house. The little copper top is pierced to let the candle smoke out.

All four roof panels are engraved differently. One side has an unidentified ship engraved into its surface; the panel to the right is engraved with the double-entendre “•HAPPY•IS•HE•WHO•FINDETH•LIGHT•” The panel opposite the ship is carved “+JOHN+DENTON+” and the last panel is engraved “*1859.*”

Although there is a candle stub in the lantern, the absence of smoke inside the roof suggests that the lantern was too precious to its owner(s) to see much use.